$15 billion worth of ammunition in hand, what is a16z secretly planning?

Source: Odaily Planet Daily

Author: Azuma (@azuma_eth)

Original Title: Following the Map, Guess What Projects a16z with $15 Billion Will Invest In?

On January 9th, the highly active venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced the completion of a $15 billion new funding round. This is the largest fundraising since the organization’s inception, accounting for over 18% of the total US venture capital market size in 2025.

In the relatively brief official announcement, a16z mentioned cryptocurrencies twice. The most critical sentence, “Our mission is to ensure America wins the technological competition of the next 100 years, starting with the key architectures of the future—artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency technology,” indicates that, with ample resources now, a16z will continue to expand its presence in the cryptocurrency market.

Breakdown of Six Major Directions

According to a16z’s plan, this round of funds will be allocated across six major areas. The American Dynamism Fund will receive $1.176 billion, the App Fund $1.7 billion, the Bio + Health Fund $700 million, the Infrastructure Fund $1.7 billion, the Growth Fund $6.75 billion, and the Other Venture Strategies Fund $3 billion.

Although a16z did not explicitly plan a dedicated cryptocurrency fund in this fundraising, these six areas have significant overlaps with cryptocurrencies.

First is the American Dynamism Fund, a strategic initiative promoted by a16z in recent years with a clear “politicized” tone. Its core goal is to rebuild America’s “hard power” and national competitiveness through venture capital. This fund mainly invests in aerospace, defense, public safety, education, housing, supply chains, industry, and manufacturing—objectively, its intersection with cryptocurrencies is limited.

Next is the App Fund, one of a16z’s most traditional and VC-oriented funds. Its core focus is on application-layer products directly usable by users. It will mainly invest in consumer internet products, AI applications, creator tools, social platforms, content services, gaming, fintech, and Web3 applications—this is also the area where a16z’s cryptocurrency narrative is most easily realized.

Then there is the Bio + Health Fund, a long-term bet outside of “pure technology.” Its core goal is to transform life sciences and healthcare systems using software, data, and engineering thinking. The main investment areas include biotech, drug development platforms, gene editing, synthetic biology, medical data and AI diagnostics, healthcare infrastructure software, etc.—this area has limited direct overlap with cryptocurrencies, but DeSci (Decentralized Science) could become a potential intersection.

The Infrastructure Fund focuses on infrastructure, aiming to provide an indispensable technical foundation for next-generation applications and platforms. Its main investment areas include cloud computing and distributed systems, AI infrastructure, data platforms, developer tools, network protocols, and underlying blockchain protocols (L1, L2, and other tools)—this is another core battlefield for a16z in the cryptocurrency domain, aside from the App Fund.

The Growth Fund primarily targets Series C and pre-IPO stages. Its core goal is not to find new opportunities but to amplify returns by supporting proven winners. It mainly invests in mature tech companies, AI platforms, fintech unicorns, and established Web3 infrastructure or applications. According to a16z’s official website, Coinbase, Kalshi, and others are explicitly categorized here.

The Other Venture Strategies Fund is relatively unique. It does not focus on a single theme but acts more like a flexible “tactical fund,” often used for special structured transactions, cross-fund collaborations, emerging field testing, secondary market opportunities, regional or thematic experimental funds, etc.—its direct overlap with cryptocurrencies is limited, but it may have temporary relevance at certain policy windows or strategic moments.

Looking at these six planned directions for the $15 billion, the App Fund, Infrastructure Fund, and Growth Fund will be the main channels for a16z’s primary investments in the crypto primary market. The App and Infrastructure Funds will focus more on native application and protocol layer projects, respectively; while the Growth Fund will tend to favor exchange platforms, prediction markets, and similar services, with a preference for leading players already holding a competitive advantage.

2025 Investment Review of a16z

Odaily Planet Daily’s rough estimate shows that a16z made 31 investments in the general crypto space over the past year. Notably, they invested twice in prediction market Kalshi, AI security firm Doppel, privacy blockchain Seismic, among others. Particularly, with Kalshi, a16z first co-led a $300 million Series D funding round in October with Sequoia, valuing the company at $5 billion; then in November, they participated again at a $11 billion valuation in a $1 billion Series E round. This was a16z’s biggest crypto bet last year.

From the above data, it’s clear that aside from heavy bets on prediction markets, wallet services, privacy blockchains, stablecoins, and cross-crypto opportunities are key areas for a16z’s 2025 layout. These segments can be categorized into blockchain underlying protocols and tools covered by the Infrastructure Fund, as well as fintech, AI applications, and others covered by the App Fund.

a16z’s 2026 Predictions

On New Year’s Day 2026, a16z Crypto officially published a New Year outlook article. In it, they mentioned 17 potential developments exciting for 2026, which may reflect the organization’s strategic focus for the future.

These 17 potential developments are:

• Privacy will become the most critical moat in crypto;
• Prediction markets will grow bigger, broader, and smarter;
• Rethinking asset tokenization and stablecoins in a more “crypto-native” way;
• Trading is just a transit point for crypto services, not the end goal;
• Moving from “Know Your Customer” (KYC) to “Know Your Agent”;
• Smarter, more efficient stablecoin deposit and withdrawal channels;
• Stablecoins will trigger a banking ledger upgrade cycle and create new payment scenarios;
• The future of instant messaging will be not only quantum-resistant but also decentralized;
• Moving from “Code is Law” to “Norms are Law”;
• Cryptography is providing a new foundational primitive that transcends blockchain itself;
• We can now perform substantive research tasks using AI;
• The “invisible tax” in open internet;
• The rise of Staked Media;
• “Secrets-as-a-Service”;
• Wealth management for everyone;
• The internet is becoming a bank;
• When legal frameworks finally align with technological architectures, the full potential of blockchain will be unleashed.

Among these 17 potential developments, some explicitly mention specific business models, including privacy, prediction markets, stablecoins, and AI—areas where a16z has already focused its layout. They also suggest optimization paths, such as smarter stablecoin deposit and withdrawal solutions.

Meanwhile, some of these developments are more about imagining the future, like the internet eventually becoming a bank. How these visions will materialize remains unclear—this is a challenge for entrepreneurs capable of delivering innovative solutions, and they are precisely the targets a16z aims to find with its $15 billion war chest.